


Part of the Cure

by thecoquimonster



Series: Trading Times [2]
Category: Infernal Devices Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-20 11:47:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8247619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecoquimonster/pseuds/thecoquimonster
Summary: Jem finds out about Will's broken promise. It turns out that Jem wants to break a few things too.





	

**Author's Note:**

> More Trading Times AU!!
> 
> I'm apparently going to be writing a lot of this. Which is fine by me, because this AU is really fun. 
> 
> Set around a year after the previous part; it's early 2016 before they ever meet Tessa. Will and Jem have romantic feelings for one another, but like. It's a process, guys.

The sound of rustling sheets roused Jem from his light sleep. He felt another weight on the bed, another person’s body heat. The soft smell of soap and almond shampoo. Jem didn’t have to open his eyes to know who it was. It was only Will. It was always only Will. He quirked the corners of his lips up and let himself relax again, let his breathing slow and deepen until he was on the edge of falling back to sleep.

“Jem?” Will asked, cutting through the silence. “Are you awake?”

He raised his head and let out a little grunt in answer. He wasn’t asleep yet, but Will could choose whether or not to continue the conversation.

“Are you tired?” Will asked. He was stalling. Jem would have been annoyed, but Will sounded nervous and Jem couldn’t muster enough energy to feel irritated. He’d been in bed all day feeling ill. Will had been there by his side, as always, holding out a box of tissues while he coughed up blood and reading terrible poetry aloud while he tried to rest.

“Is it important?” Jem said, opening one eye. Will stared at him with wide eyes. He was inches away from Jem, close but he’d been careful to pull in his limbs so that they wouldn’t touch. Two teenagers sleeping in the same bed was one thing. Two _parabatai_ cuddling in the same bed was quite another. The former wasn’t a problem. The latter could become one.

Will paused for a moment, considering Jem’s question. “It’s important. But it can also wait if you’re too tired.”

“Tell me,” Jem said. He sat up and waited for Will to follow. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

“I want—,” Will cut himself off. He took a deep breath, then started over. He was steady and calm now. “Jem, I need to tell you something. But I don’t want you to be mad at me.”

“Well, I can’t make any promises about that when it concerns you,” Jem said.

He grinned, but Will tensed. Jem wondered if he was rethinking this conversation, but then he got a hard look and fisted his hand into the comforter. As though he didn’t care this angered Jem after all. “I found a cure for you. I broke my promise but I found a cure for you.”

Jem froze. He was caught between anger and amazement and disbelief. He narrowed his eyes, choosing to be skeptic. If it was real, there had to be risks. There always were.

“It’s angel blood,” Will continued. He pulled out a vial containing a golden liquid from inside his shirtsleeve. It looked like honey.

Jem felt his cheeks heat up. “How in the hell did you get _angel blood_? Don’t tell me you summoned an angel, William.”

“No, but Valentine Morgenstern did,” said Will. He held out the vial, and Jem took it. Jem ran his thumb over it as Will went on. “That’s the blood of the angel Ithuriel, from when he was summoned and tortured by Valentine Morgenstern during the days of the Circle. I searched for it for over a year, with Magnus Bane’s help. We were finally able to track it down, and even this little bit of it cost me everything I had.”

“You didn’t need to do all of this,” Jem said. “I didn’t want you to do this for me. _Everything_ you had? Why would you do something like that?”

“I would do anything for you, James,” Will said, like it was just a statement of fact. Will always said these kinds of things seemingly without a second thought. It made Jem draw in a sharp breath. Will frowned, looking less confident now. “Are you telling me you won’t take it? I know you’re angry with me, but I did this for _you_.”

“I don’t know the risks,” Jem said. He didn’t deny being angry. But here was Will, who had done everything, fought harder than anyone, to get this for him. All those nights Will had disappeared, all those days in the library when Jem found Will going through books, he had been searching.

“It could be bad,” Will admitted. “I don’t know how the angel blood will react to the demon venom. I read about the Dark War, and how Valentine Morgenstern gave my ancestors Clary Fairchild and Jace Herondale angel blood before they were born. It made them more powerful. But with you, I don’t know. There are so many unknown factors.

“I’d understand if you don’t want to take it,” he added. Will shrunk into himself a bit. “I broke a promise, and it isn’t even a guarantee. But it was all I could think of that could heal you. I was thinking you should take it little by little and we could see.”

Jem studied the vial. There was not much of it. Enough for two or three doses, if he was frugal with it. He was used to taking just enough of the _yin fen_.  It was annoying that he would have to take _just enough_ of his supposed cure as well. And what if he needed more angel blood than this tiny vial could give him? Will had given _everything_ just to get this much. He wouldn’t be able to buy a second. Will had no money for it.

“I’ll take it,” Jem said. “Of course I’ll take it, Will.”

The relief coming off from Will was palpable. His shoulders relaxed and he let out a sigh.

Jem steeled himself. He took the cap off of the vial and raised it to his lips. He recoiled at first when the angel blood hit his tongue. It had looked so much like honey that he’d expected it to taste the same as well. It tasted like nothing at all. But it _burned._ He was drinking liquid flame. Golden light that scorched its way down to his stomach, where it spread outward, burning, burning, his whole body was _burning—_

Jem handed the vial back to Will; it was a bit less two-thirds full now. Will closed the cap over the vial and touched Jem’s shoulder. Jem gave a little gasp and leaned into Will for support. He shuddered, not with cold but with heat.

“Are you okay? Jem, are you okay?” Will was asking. He shifted closer so that Jem could lean his back against Will’s chest.

“I—I don’t know,” Jem managed. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. Sweat trickled down his face, making his hair stick to his forehead.

“Do you feel nauseous? Talk to me,” Will said. His voice held a certain familiar tightness. This was how he always sounded when he worried over Jem.

Jem leaned in more against Will. “Everything burns.”

Cool hands touched his forehead, his cheeks, and Jem could almost sigh with relief. Will pushed Jem’s hair out of his face. 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Will said.

“It’s not too bad,” Jem replied. At least he wasn’t coughing up blood. He could feel the angel blood burning in his body, but he didn’t feel weak or nauseous. “Honest.”

Will nodded. He leaned forward and pressed his face against Jem’s hair. Jem’s heart took off at the touch. If Will noticed, he didn’t say anything. “That’s not what I was sorry for. Well, sort of. But not the only thing.”

“You’re forgiven for breaking your promise,” Jem said, finally opening his eyes and moving away from Will. He smiled. “I should’ve assumed you would keep searching for a cure anyway.”

“That’s not really it either,” Will said.

Jem lay back down. Will was being vague. It was something that Jem was used to, but this time it felt different. Will never wanted to be pushed into giving answers. Tonight he looked like he did. Jem reached out to take Will’s hand. He hoped this was enough to prompt Will into talking, because he wasn’t sure he knew how to ask what was wrong. Not when it came to Will.

“The good news is that if all this goes well, you won’t die of the _yin fen_ addiction anymore,” said Will. He stared down at Jem. The burning of the angel blood was nothing in comparison to the heat Jem felt when he was under Will’s intense gaze.

“What’s the bad news, then?” Jem asked.

Will settled down beside him, the same way he’d done when he first had come inside the bedroom, but he still held Jem’s hand. It took a long time for him to speak. Jem could almost see him forming sentences in his mind and erasing them before the thought finished. Will swallowed, looking pale. “I’m cursed, Jem. I’m cursed and it’s going to kill you.”

Jem tensed. “What do you mean?”

“I’m so sorry,” Will said. “I’m so sorry, Jem. I’m curing you, but you’re going to die anyway and there isn’t anything I can do about it.”

“William, what do you mean?” Jem demanded, his pain momentarily forgotten.

Will let go of his hand and looked away. “When I was eleven, at home, I opened up a Pyxis and released a demon. It cursed me so that everyone who loved me would die. That it might take days or years, but it would happen. Unless I ran away. The next day, my sister Ella died. I ran from home and came to the Institute, determined I’d drive everyone off.”

“But not me,” Jem said with a sudden realization. “You didn’t drive off me.”

“You were already dying,” Will said. He closed his eyes. “Jem, I’m so sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Will,” Jem said. Will’s eyes snapped open and Jem smiled. “I knew you were hiding something. I knew that you were afraid of it. But I’m not. I’m not afraid of loving you and I’m not afraid of a curse. You found a way to cure me. I’m going to help you find a way to break it.”

“James,” Will said in amazement.

“We’ll start tomorrow. Just... let me sleep off this angel blood. I’m exhausted.” He’d spent the day ill in bed and the angel blood hadn’t given him any extra energy. Jem closed his eyes.

“Do you want me to leave?” Will asked.

Jem reached out and took Will’s hand again. Two teenagers holding hands was one thing. Two _parabatai_ holding hands was another. But he wasn’t breaking any Laws either way, so he couldn't be bothered to care.

“Never.”


End file.
